It was over before the pirates knew it had begun. almost 1000 rifles were simultaneously slammed down on the barricades before they started unloading, followed by another 1000 running forward to man the frontline defenses and add their rifle fire to the slaughter. The assigned PESSA suits made their way to the main barricade, providing covering fire for the frontal defenses and mowing down any group of enemies that might get the idea that rushing forward was the way to go.

Hundreds of pirates went down in the first second and the numbers only kept building. In a moment, their collective bulk of soldiers went from victorious attack to crushing defeat. The blood and entrails from the dead and dying made the metal floor as slick as oil and the ensuing chaos and confusion helped thin out their numbers further.

The pirates, of course, went into a rout in their attempt at escape, and Dalle had to press himself against the wall to not be trampled by the thousands of men running blindly back to the dock area they held. Slowly making his way toward the gunfire that had gone from constant to sporadic, he did everything in his power to remain concealed, pressed against the wall and hugging the shadows. He wanted to see what he was up against.

When he finally saw the room, his heart sank in his chest. Littering the floor were the corpses of a thousand pirates, at least! The defenders were already busy moving the corpses out of the way after looting them for anything of use. Dalle noted that they left personal items alone, despite some of the trinkets holding significant value. Another one of Eirik's stupid ideas is not touching things that held inherent sentimental value to the deceased.

The moved his eyes from the dead to the living. The barricades were formidable. Concrete bases, covered with sandbags. the explosives required to remove that sort of obstacle would have enough force to rip open the space station, exposing everyone inside to the agonizing death of the void. Fairly quick at 15 seconds, it would still be the most excruciating 15 seconds you had ever experienced. Suffocation combined with the gasses in your lungs expanding to the point where your lungs rupture, the water in your skin begins to vaporize in the lack of atmosphere, and your skin and underlying tissue begin to swell up as well.

Explosives were no good. They had to take these defenses the old-fashioned way. But how long until Eirik arrived? He could not have a whole lot of ships with him, but if he learned that Dalle was here before he had taken the station, then the simple act of living would become very very dangerous in the near future. He had to find some way to make it inside those defenses, and quick!

Further observation showed, that any pirate that had a chance to survive was taken prisoner, while any that was beyond the help of medical science was given a merciful death by a shot to the head, and Dalle had to reluctantly respect his old teammate for that decision. It was not an easy one to make, but it was needed. Listening to the wails of a dying man would grind at your sanity with relentless efficiency until you snapped.

It unfortunately also meant that Lasse was determined to see this fight through to the end. Otherwise, he would have tried sending back the wounded, making them a burden on his resources. This was the action of a man that expected no mercy or quarter and offered none in return. Dalle made his way back to the docking area and started going over the losses.

Close to 1500 pirates had died, for nothing. No ground had been gained, no objective had been completed, and not even a single shot had been fired in retaliation. And almost 1/10 of the surviving pirates were killed. He had already lost 1/5 of all of his troops just landing on this station and learning what kind of opposition he faced. At this rate, Eirik would not have to come by to see Dalle off. But now they knew how to approach the situation.

He would make the pirates slab together some makeshift, moveable barricades so they could establish fire positions on the barricades without exposing themselves. Once that had been done, they could whither them down with overwhelming numbers. Even with those hell suits a select few of the defending soldiers were wearing. Their M134 miniguns were turning his pirates into mincemeat where ever they turned their attention. The large shield on their left arm looked like an oversized version of the shields Eirik had insisted they use when he used to fight with the insufferable whelp. But the suit armor looked different on that arm, bulkier and more encased in armor plating.

"A hidden weapon system perhaps. Because, of course, the lunatic didn't think that a handheld minigun was destructive enough." Dalle thought as he recalled the details of what he had seen. They would need something special for those suits, or they would never take this station.

_____________________

Lasse was very happy with the situation. They had bloodied the pirates badly, ruined their morale, and looted enough ammunition and weapons for the more experienced civilians to be issued guard duty, replacing the recruits guarding the bunkers. Some had asked if this was wise, and Lasse had responded who they would rather have defending the entrance. His soldiers, or their friends and loved ones. The worried complaints stopped after that.

The pirates pulled back after the initial catastrophe, quadrupled the guard at the entrance to the docking area they held, and got to work on a project Lasse could not figure out what was. Undisciplined as they were, the pirates were far from stupid and had quickly figured out that they were being watched constantly. So they had erected shanty structures covered by tarps to hide whatever they were building. It didn't matter, nothing they could build would help them get past his defensive line before Eirik arrived. And when he did, it was time to turn the tables on the pirate ships that were unable to dock at the station. The limited space of the docking platform that had been left with weak defenses had done its work and lured the enemy into the least advantageous position for an attacker.

Right now though, he had to deal with the disposal of the dead. The work was hard and slow, as they moved the bodies into the morgue's large freezers. A dead body was a resource as much as everything else, and burying them in the soil on the colonist planets would only do good things to increase the harvests. Usually, cemeteries would be established, but colony worlds did not have the luxury of throwing away the free fertilizer. Carefully planned out, the bodies would be evenly distributed over the different planets, with marked burial sites, maximizing the effectiveness of the procedure.

As a result of not having a gravesite to visit, it had become custom to record the names of those that died, either of natural causes or otherwise, and collect them in a massive book called "The book of life-givers", which would become the main piece on display at the planets cultural center. Forever remembered with their names written into the very history of the planet, the relatives of the dead could easily accept the sacrifice of giving up a gravesite.

This would not be the case for these pirates. There would simply be a number, and the word "pirates". The punishment they fled from in life, caught up to them in death. Lasse shook himself out of the melancholic thoughts and walked to the nearest pile of the dead to help with the next corpse. They would deliver them to the entrance where they would be stripped and put into storage.

_________________________

Eirik breathed deeply and stretched out his stiff body. he had been sitting in the same position for almost 16 hours, gathering himself. He was angry, the result of cultivating the rage that lurked inside. He would dispatch the vermin that threatened his borders, his mission, and his unborn child. No mercy, no respite! He looked over his spear on the altar, the new runes he had carved in it glowed against the darkened wood. The ring of salt surrounding the weapon was unbroken and whole, just as he had set it up.

He grabbed the shaft of the spear and lifted it, being careful not to disturb the salt. The seal should not be broken, the esoteric forces he was working with were finicky, to say the least, and the last thing he needed was to lose control of the carefully gathered and directed energies permeating the room.

Most people thought the practice crazy, but anyone that knew of the spirit realm and the other realms knew the importance of the cleansing salt. An unbroken ring of salt placed around the object used to channel energies and tap into the other realms, was a bare necessity if one wished to work with spiritual mysteries. The most basic of these tools, the ouija board, was often used by coy teenagers looking for a thrill.

Unfortunately, such thrills usually ended up being a lot scarier and haunting than these young people expect, mostly because of their lack of attention to detail. Some defenses needed to be set up and rites needed to be read, to control the forces in question. A ring of salt was the most basic of all. Basic but effective. The runes were another way of reaching out from this realm, albeit a more complex and intricate way of doing things. The ouija board in itself worked as the anchor between the realms, but the runes had to be written in the right order, with the right placement.

Making the patterns was painstaking work that was easily ruined by a single wrong line, which demanded you start over. But once you succeeded, the results were undeniable. He could feel the malicious energies emanating from the spear, sense the hatred and resentment he had charged his weapon with, seeping into his being as long as he was in physical contact with the weapon.

He cast a glance at his watch. 14 hours until arrival. Time to rest up and make final preparations. Those scumbag pirates would not know what hit them.

____________________________

About the same time, Eirik decided to get some rest, was the time Dalle and his men finished work on the moveable barricades. They were nowhere near as high quality as the ones Lasse and his men were hiding behind, but they would resist rifle fire and keep the men safe. he ordered the barricades moved into position and the men to gather up behind them. As soon as they were in position, they would move out, resuming the attack on the defenders. And this time they would not die in droves, caught in a killing field with overlapping lines of fire.

Dalle could see the other groups of pirates gathering up, preparing for the attack that would hit 3 of the 4 areas that were locked down by defenders. "Let's see how they handle the defense of multiple fronts!" Dalle thought with an evil smile as he imagined the terror and confusion Lasse would feel once he got outflanked. While the 2 other pirate assault groups did not have as many or as good shields as his, he doubted the defenders had the troop capacity to defend effectively on multiple fronts, simultaneously.

"MOVE OUT!! BRING ME BEYOND THOSE BARRICADES!" He called out, and they all started moving.